Friday, August 10, 2012

I've been a keen watcher of Olympic ads for quite a while and have a library of them I perennial use in my communication classes. Whether it's the compelling messages about the environmental and sustainability of the Summer games in 1992 when even Anheuser Bush portrayed itself as green to the core, or Nike's "Just Do It" ads in Winter 2002. I'm a sucker for the pull of the uniquely emotive advertising during just about any Olympics. They never disappoint.
And they never fail to supply me with examples of powerful communication to bring into my public health classrooms.

This Summer Olympics has not disappointed. Nike gets my vote for the best Find Your Greatness. And one that will open my Fall semester.

Over 1 million views on YouTube and hundreds of people weighing in one the image of a 200 pound 12 year old struggling as he jogs down a lonely road toward the camera.

It made me think of the way we are generally framing obesity messages ( for young people). In my lab files I an obesity campaign the state of Alabama's launched last year Strong4Life. ( Acknowledgment and thanks here to grad student Colleen Bowan, for her analysis of this campaign). The original images and messages were all dire and accusatory.

When was the last time we talked about a person's greatness in a public health messages - especially in our obesity messages?

What we're reading and tuning into

Disclaimer

What I post here is intended only as a forum to discuss ideas. Please be aware that referred to research or sources evolve over time so the documents referred to on this blog may be superseded by new information.

Oh, and BTW I use the following broad definition of Health Literacy:“A health literate person is able to use health concepts and information generatively—applying information to novel situations. This is critical to our efforts to prepare the public to react to complex public health emergencies.”(From invited paper presented by me - Surgeon General’s Report on Health Literacy, September 7 2006, Bethesda Maryland http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/healthliteracy/toc.html)